Breadcrumb

Warwick, Thomas de Beauchamp, earl of

Warwick, Thomas de Beauchamp, earl of, d. 1401, English nobleman, of an ancient and powerful family. He was one of the governors of the young Richard II . After Richard assumed power, Warwick joined the barons who opposed the acts of Richard's favorite courtiers and was one of the lords appellant (1388) who accused them of treason and curbed Richard's power. When Richard resumed control (1389), Warwick retired to his estates until his sudden arrest on a fabricated charge of treason in 1397. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London (in the Beauchamp Tower, named for him) and then banished to the Isle of Man until the accession of Henry IV, when he was restored to his estates.